On the Cool Teacher blog, Vicki Davis, gives 12 reasons to incorporate student blogging into the curriculum. Among them, blogging gives student a chance to practice writing in a form other than the conventional essay, it helps students develop their writing voice, it encourages collaborative learning, and it affords students opportunities to enhance technology skills in a real-world writing situation. Read Vicki’s full explanation on her blog post: 12 Reasons to Blog with Your Students. Do you agree with Vicki? Do you use blogging in your teaching? If you are not using it now, would you in the future? What do you see as the pros? Are there drawbacks?
2 comments:
I agree with Viki that blogging can become a positive tool within the classrom. I completely understand that our studnets live within a world of technology. Blogging is one way to bring their worlds and real life experiences into the classroom.Her twelve reasons why blogging should be in the classroom all make sense towards the development of the students as a group as well as individuals. I also view blogging as a tool for those students who may feel more comfortable expressing themselves in writing as opposed to having to verbally express themselves in front of a large group. This, as Viki states, helps devleop inter as well as intrapersonal skills. Blogging also teaches so many skills on many different levels, as Viki points out. As a new teacher, I plan on using blogging within the curriculum. My concerns are that I do not know enough about blogging to be able to monitor and/or aid students in getting the full benefits from blogging. This is a goal I have set for this semester and plan to start blogging the followig sememster. I will be using Viki's blog site as a tool and resource.
I think this was a great post that talked about a number of important issues why students should blog.
The first thing that jumped out at me was the idea that it allows for student voice. We as teachers encourage students to be themselves and show us who they are. As teachers, we can set standards for blogging (creating digital citizenship) which provides students with limits to express themselves. This also allows the teacher to read and understand who the student is. My education professors have explained how important it is to show students that teachers want and care to know who they are. Blogging provides a way for the teacher to get to know students. Its also a way for students to get to know their peers which was also stated in the article. This is a great way for students to create a voice for themselves that they might not be able to express in the classroom setting. Last, blogging is a great way to engage a student in a topic. It gives them the freedom to explore and talk about topics that interest them.
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